If You're Splitting Hairs
by oldhokages
Summary: A collection of NaruSaku drabbles and oneshots, mostly taken from prompts on tumblr.
1. seals

**NARUSAKU ;; ** seals

_per the request of tumblr user ijutsu_

When Sakura first tells him that she finds her yin seal embarrassing, Naruto doesn't know what to say. She's going on and on about it and he's really wishing he hadn't had the gall to call it cute. He wouldn't have said a word if he had known this would be the reaction.

"It's hideous," Sakura laments hopelessly, her pink hair fanning over the creamy white of her pillow. "And it's just... right... _there._"

To illustrate her point, she thumps her own forehead. Naruto wisely doesn't comment on the fact that this gesture results in a loud, hollow echo. She goes on: apparently, the seal's color is all _wrong_ because it contrasts with her hair and doesn't match her eyes, and the placement! The placement is just _cruel_. Naruto glances down at his own stomach; the seal that binds the kyuubi within him isn't currently visible, but that doesn't change the fact that it's there. Wordlessly, he pulls the bedsheet up to his chin.

"I don't care what you say," he remarks stubbornly. "I still think it's cute."

Sakura glares at him harshly, then softens. "You would," she teases before lowering her voice in rough imitation: "_'A forehead so charming... makes me want to kiss it!'_"

"Yes, yes, guilty as charged," he says while reaching for her across the bed. "And now there's a target so I can't miss it, y'know!"

Then again maybe he could because just moments later, he was kissing her lips instead.


	2. confession

**NARUSAKU ;; ** confession

_per the request of tumblr user theorenjihokage_

It was a well known fact that Naruto never ran out of words, but no one had ever accused him of using them well. Articulation was hard, especially when your heart was up your throat and pumping at such a speed that an aneurysm seemed not only likely but unavoidable in the next ten seconds. Talking during a battle was one thing; those things just _came _to him like divine inspiration from the heavens, glorious and perfect and practically foolproof.

Love confessions?

Much more difficult.

And Sakura was looking at him mighty expectantly...

"Well?" she prompted, checking her watch. "I can't wait all day, Naruto, I've got places to be... _you've_ got places to be."

Yes, yes. He probably did have somewhere to be. Tsunade was pretty ruthless with the institution of what she called 'Hokage Bootcamp' after the Fourth Secret War ended, but not nearly as ruthless as Sakura was. Apparently, Sakura was a Certified Expert on how to run a village and while Naruto appreciated her... help... he was a _little_ tired of her consistently pointing things out to him whenever he shadowed Tsunade. He was also tired of hovering somewhere between the platonic and the romantic, of standing on the brink of a relationship and while neither of them found the will to take the plunge. Sakura clearly wasn't going to do it; the last time she had confessed to him, he shot her down. Called her a liar.

This time, it would have to be him.

But what could he really say? How could he possibly be any clearer?

"Naruto?"

She was prompting him again and in the absence of words, he acted. It made sense in a way; there wasn't really anything he could _say_ to Sakura. Nothing that mattered, anyway. So instead he reached forward, pulling her towards him and into a clumsy kiss that she greedily reciprocated. His uncertainty washed away as she wrapped her arms around him, fingers dancing at the nape of his neck as his own hands found homes on her hips. She was getting sticky lip gloss all over him, not that he you know,_ cared_. Sakura broke away from him first and his eyes slowly slid open. He didn't remember when they had even closed.

"Places to be," she whispered.

"Yeah," he agreed in a deepened timbre.

Sakura smiled then kissed him once more, short and chaste. "Meet me at Ichiraku's for lunch," she insisted. "It's a date?"

"A date," Naruto repeated, letting go as she pulled back.

He watched her walk away and remained rooted to the ground, more lost for words than ever. All things considered, everything had gone better than expected. They finally jumped from the cliff and instead of crashing down to earth as feared, they flew... or maybe that was just his head spinning. Details. Naruto licked his lips and found that they tasted sweet, and he wiped his mouth on his sleeve only to be dismayed that whatever lip product Sakura wore seemed to be primarily made out of glitter. _Whatever_, he thought. _Worth it_.


	3. heartbeat

**NARUSAKU ;; ** heartbeat

_per the request of tumblr user monsterrtrio_

It wasn't that Sakura needed to hear his heartbeat... it was just that she needed to hear his heartbeat.

Naruto didn't seem to mind. He was perfectly fine with the fact that Sakura's default cuddle position was ear to chest. He indulged her, allowing her to lay and listen to his breath rattle and his heart pump as long as she needed to verify that he was still very much alive. Sometimes the tempo was slow as they laid languidly together, his arms wrapped protectively around her or his fingers twisting absently in her hair. Other times it beat so _fast_ and his breath came in such ragged gasps that she was hardly sure if the pounding in her ears was her own blood rushing or his. She didn't care.

The sound was precious. There was nothing more precious in the world.

Or at least, that's what Sakura had believed.

"...Is that?"

"The heartbeat, yes. And there's the spine, and the head..."

Tears welled in Sakura's eyes, blurring the black and white screen where the technician was pointing out things which as a medic, Sakura could very well identify herself. But Naruto couldn't and as the doctor went on, he squeezed her hand harder and harder as the steady _wub wub wub_ of their child's heart filled the room.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered loudly, leaning close to her ear. "Do you hear that?"

Yes, she responded. And she had never heard anything more beautiful.


	4. skinny dip

**NARUSAKU ;; ** skinny dip

_per the request of tumblr user imxinfinite_

Sakura's done a lot of stupid things in her life.

Jumping into a lake stark naked with Naruto is probably somewhere near the top of the list.

She makes him turn around while she undresses, frantically yelling that he ought not peak every time he begins to tease her by pretending to turn back. She's being silly; Naruto's seen most of what she has already, and what he hasn't seen, he's touched. Her panties are the last thing to go before she wades in after him. It's unbearably hot out and the coolness of the water doesn't really help when she can't stop thinking that he's just as naked as she is.

She's blushing so hard when she finally issues the okay for him to face her and when his eyes flick down, she looks too. There's not much to see; she's not Hinata, nothing floats. Naruto doesn't seem to care. His eyes linger a bit longer than they should over her nipples simply because he can see them, dusty and pink and not quite hidden by the murky lake. Sakura just lets him look and when he extends his hand to her, she allows him to pull her weightlessly through the water and into his barreled chest.

Naruto's teasing her now, telling her he's going to dunk her in the deep water and ruin her hair, but Sakura just laughs and leans back in his arms, dipping her hair into the water and exposing her breasts. When she lifts back up her bangs are plastered back and Naruto's expression is absolutely dumbfounded. He kisses her seal, her cheek, her neck and Sakura kisses him back eagerly, list entirely forgotten.


	5. resolution

**NARUSAKU ;; **resolution

_This fic was written as a gift for tumblr user sasukages as a part  
of the NaruSaku Exchange.__She asked for something cute with maybe  
some stars and hand-holding or a date. I managed half of those things. _

_Enjoy ~_

The warm southern air was stifling in the night and Sakura threw her blankets back from her body restlessly. It was no use; sleep would elude her forever in this place. Her mind was too far from peaceful and there was no comfort to be found in the hallowed patch of dry ground where Team Kakashi chose to make camp, not to mention the _noise. _The forest surrounding them was alive with sounds of buzzing and chirruping nocturnes and if she listened very carefully, she could hear another sound. Beside her Naruto was breathing deeply and evenly, and she cast her eyes at him. The wane starlight that pushed through the gap in the treetops above them made him look like stone save for his chest rising and falling, rising and falling.

Every rustle and hitch and rattle met her ears like a symphony.

Their mission was deceptively simple; they had a lead on Akatsuki and they were to investigate it. Sakura hoped that it wouldn't pan out. The memory of her battle with Sasori was still fresh in her mind... as was the fact that before that fiasco was said and done the Kazekage was dead. Gaara was alive now because of Chiyo, but the fact remained. Akatsuki was after the Tailed Beasts and if they could, they would extract them from the shinobi who served as their jailers and rob the vessels of their lives in the process. Sakura turned on her side and watched morbidly as Naruto's chest rose and fell while her own tightened around her heart.

There was nothing fair left in the world.

"You should sleep, Sakura-chan."

The croaky announcement came from Naruto himself, who in her preoccupation with his respiration had slowly cracked open an eye. They were sleeping on pallets that were entirely too close together but in the wild it didn't feel intimate to Sakura. She just felt kind of vulnerable and maybe like it wouldn't be so bad of an idea to close the five inch space between them.

"I can't sleep," she whispered back.

He rolled over to face her and she could hear his perplexed expression in his queried, "Why?"

"I'm... worried."

"...If it's about letting my shadow clones keep watch so we can all rest, it's safe, y'know."

Sakura smiled. Yes, that was scary, but it was nothing to keep her up at night. "No, I trust you."

Because she did. Implicitly.

"Then it's those Akatsuki guys," he said fiercely. To be so thick-headed he was awfully perceptive, or else he was just as worried as her. Her brief smile faded as quickly as it appeared, though she doubted he had seen it at all in the dark.

"Yeah."

There was a bit of huffing from his pallet, as if he were shifting and moving. "You – you don't need... to be worried," he stopped and wrestled with his blanket, chased a brief tangent of _why was it so hot,_ and unzipped his jacket before finishing his thought, "about that. You don't need to be worried about that."

Sakura knew he was right. She didn't need to worry about Akatsuki – that organization would soon have the weight of all five Great Countries pressing down upon it, if it didn't already. That was why Akatsuki itself wasn't the cause of her apprehension... that honor was reserved for the doofus who was busily folding his coat into a pillow and whining about the heat. Sakura opened her mouth to remind him that they were near the borderlands and were probably closer to the equator than he had ever been when another, more pressing thought occurred to her.

"...You weren't sleeping before, were you?" she asked skeptically.

Naruto whipped his blanket up and down, trying to make a breeze. "No," he answered miserably, "I just thought you might be, y'know? So I tried to be quiet..."

How sweet.

"...but then you were just staring at me, so I figured something was wrong."

Oh, _oh! _She should have **known**. In retrospect Sakura realized that she had never seen Naruto sleep so peacefully as previously observed and now, he had caught her staring. The only appropriate response was to smack him silly.

"I was not staring!" she hissed. He caught her fist in the dark.

"Sakura," he whispered. "Look, I know you're scared, but _trust me_. I'll handle everything."

Sakura's fist melted into his palm until their fingers were locked and she squeezed, hard. The gesture wasn't inherently romantic, nor was it plainly platonic. Instead it was a third thing for which Sakura had no name, marked by desperation and earnestness and more passion than could truly be conveyed palm to palm. She just knew that it was important; Sakura's will was and had been slowly consolidating in a perfect storm of regret and necessity and absolute, purely requited affection, and this was _it_. She held his hand and felt every callous between them, each crack in the skin, every pass of his cautious thumb trailing over her knuckle. Naruto's words sounded suspiciously like a promise... and Sakura wasn't sure if she wanted to burden him with any more oaths on her behalf. She detangled and retracted her hand from his.

"We should sleep, Naruto," she said softly, rolling onto her back. "Mission and all that."

He was silent for a long moment during which she could feel the weight of his gaze, heavy and unmistakable even through the darkness. She wanted to meet it, to reach for him again and not let go come hell or high water, but she couldn't bring herself to move. When he finally spoke again his voice sounded dull and perhaps a bit unhappy as he told her that yes, she was right. They did need to sleep, which was what he had been trying to tell her in the first place.

"Sleep tight," she urged weakly.

"Mmmm."

There was a slight commotion as he turned over, too, and then they were quiet. On the opposite side of the clearing Sai and Kakashi-sensei were just darkened lumps and despite his closeness, Naruto might as well have been just as far away now. She was so very good at keeping her distance from him for reasons that escaped her, and now five inches felt like miles.

Soon Naruto's breathing evened again and just as she began to wonder if he was truly asleep this time, he confirmed it by flailing over onto his stomach. She was appalled how she ever could have believed his earlier charade for even a second. Naruto was an ugly sleeper, what with his sprawled limbs and the drool that was almost certainly trailing from his open mouth. Stars twinkled above her until a pale cloud rolled in to block them from view, and though she didn't know quite why, it made her sad. Sad like the fact Naruto felt the need to _handle_ everything, to look out for everyone and keep them all safe. It was terrible and Sakura was reminded of her previous sentiment that nothing at all was fair.

Who would handle Naruto? Who would keep him safe?

"I will," she resolved in a faint whisper to no one._ I will, I will, I will._

She didn't sleep a wink.


	6. no idea

**NARUSAKU ;; **no idea

_tumblr word meme, **mamihlapinatapei:**  
t_he look between two people in which each loves the other,  
but each are too afraid to make the first move.__

Naruto's gaze is heavy and hard when Sakura lifts her eyes to meet it.

"Are you sure?" he asks.

His voice is deeper and his face sterner than they have ever been – the voice and face of a man, of a Hokage. But he's still only Naruto. He's still whisker marked and blue eyed like the sky, and he still looks at her like she's hung the moon when all Sakura can recall is hanging her head in shame.

"I'm certain," she replies. His tiny smile doesn't go unnoticed and quickly, Sakura backtracks. "I mean, be realistic, Naruto! You need all the help you can get."

His smile doesn't diminish and as he leans back in his chair, he laughs. "You're probably right, y'know."

"Of course I'm right! Why else would I offer to be your assistant, hm?"

Sakura huffs and takes the liberty of crossing the invisible line to stand on the business side of his desk alongside him while Naruto sighs and lifts a scroll from the waiting pile labeled _incoming. _His grin fades once more into a small, sheepish smile.

"I have no idea."


	7. come morning

**NARUSAKU ;; **come morning

_tumblr word meme, **baisemain:**  
_a kiss on the hand.__

The first time Sakura kisses Naruto, he's sleeping and he has no idea. He's in a hospital bed and she's already been holding his hand for hours before she lifts his fingers to her lips and softly, delicately kisses his battered knuckles. He doesn't really need to be there, but he's allowed her to admit him for the sole purpose of alleviating her worry. She knows he's exhausted; he used up everything he had during the final hours of the war and at least here, in this place, she can keep him under watch. She squeezes his hand.

Come morning she knows she'll have to release him to make room in his bed for others who are actually injured and need it more, but she doesn't want to send him home.

She doesn't want to let him go.


	8. cornerstone

**NARUSAKU ;; **cornerstone

_set at the end of the rescue gaara arc; enjoy!_

There was no explanation for the sharp sting in her side Sakura felt when a large Sand nin relieved her of Chiyo's body. Or maybe there was; he inadvertently jostled the deep wound Sasori had inflicted, causing Sakura to hiss. It wasn't life threatening, but the pain was real enough to merit attention. She lit her fingers with healing chakra and fluttered them over her abdomen, carefully examining the extent of the damage.

It was Kankuro who noticed this. "Are you okay?"

Sakura looked up at the puppeteer and gave him a thumbs up with the hand not occupied with making sure her innards weren't ruptured or hemorrhaging. "Just fine, Kankuro."

He looked skeptical, but of all those gathered to witness Gaara's revival, Kankuro knew best her abilities as a medic. "If you say so."

Kankuro turned away without further question, returning his attention to his brother and sister and the subdued jubilation of the Kazekage's revival. Temari was kneeling beside Gaara, who was now sitting up and looking as tired as Sakura had ever seen him. His eyes, always heavy, seemed sunken into darker rings than ever and as she worked to knit her own deep tissues back together again, she felt the undeniable urge to go and check him over at least one good time. She rubbed her stomach, frowning both at the hole pierced through her vest and at Naruto where he squatted very much in the way of Gaara's reunion with his siblings. He was talking loud and cracking wise, grinning as if he hadn't been on the verge of total breakdown only moments before, as if Gaara had only been laying down for an ill-timed nap and not dead at their feet, and he was smiling so beautifully as he did it that Sakura thought her heart might stop at the sight.

_Do not risk your life so foolishly._ Chiyo's parting wisdom was still fresh in Sakura's ear and as it rang about in her head like a bell, she thought she understood. She let the soft glow of her chakra fade and her hand fall into her lap just as Naruto finally seemed to notice that she had been ailing.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" he asked belatedly. In his distraction Temari took her turn to fawn over her brother and Sakura tried to smile at Naruto even half as brilliantly as he did for her.

"I'm fine, Naruto," she replied. But Sakura knew then and knew it well that she couldn't afford any more reckless choices and deep tissue wounds for no reason at all other than hating to lose.

Her risks had to count for something.


	9. crooked noses and blue eyes

**NARUSAKU ;;** crooked noses and blue eyes

Sakura knocked on the door lightly, mostly because she wasn't really sure she wanted anybody to answer. A red eyed boy swung open the door anyway. He didn't necessarily care about Sakura's qualms but when he saw her making herself small on his stoop, he turned and yelled into the depths of the house.

"Mom!" he called. "It's for you!"

When he was done hollering, he addressed Sakura. "You can come in if you want."

Sakura found the grace to smile and thanked him before crossing the threshold. The boy smiled back, a smile that dimpled his cheeks, and with a pang of something that wasn't quite sadness Sakura realized he had Asuma's crooked nose.

"Sakura!" She turned at the sound of her name in time to see Kurenai wiping her dainty hands on her apron. "I wasn't expecting you."

"I – I'm sorry," Sakura said. "I should have…"

Kurenai waved her hand dismissively, "It's no problem. I was just finishing up lunch if you don't mind?"

"Of course not."

Kurenai's son slipped away to the living room towards the soft crackle of the television, and Sakura followed the older kunoichi into the small kitchen where the stench of several simmering pots assaulted her nose. Feeling lightheaded, Sakura slumped at the cramped table and covered her mouth. Kurenai didn't say anything immediately; she finished her task at the stove and lowered the heat, then sat down across from Sakura.

"How far along are you?" Kurenai asked softly.

Sakura panicked. "How did you – ?"

"Intuition," Kurenai said. "So, how far?"

"Eight weeks," Sakura answered.

Naruto had been dead for six.

"I'm sorry," Kurenai said. Something about her words stung despite her softened tone, and Sakura began to cry.

"How did you do it?" Sakura asked wretchedly.

"The same way you'll do it," Kurenai answered. "One miserable day at a time."

She reached across the table and took Sakura's hand in comfort. Sakura squeezed hard, and she thought about the boy with the crooked nose watching TV in the next room and imagined her own boy with gleaming blue eyes.

"Is it worth it?" Sakura whispered.

Kurenai smiled, for what it was worth. "I think so."

Sakura chose to believe her.


End file.
